Coventry City have served notice that they intend to be competitive in the Premier League this season after following up their victory at Nottingham Forest before the international break with a commanding 4-1 win over Newcastle United. The result marked the first time the Sky Blues have scored four goals in a top-flight match since a 4-1 triumph over Sheffield Wednesday back in May 2000.
The win lifted Frank Lampard's side to 14th in the table and has sparked optimism around the club's Ryton training base that a run of competitive performances over the next seven fixtures could lay the groundwork for a survival push. Coventry face a testing but potentially favourable stretch, starting with a trip to winless Tottenham and the visit of a similarly struggling Fulham side, before matches against Sunderland, Everton, Crystal Palace, Leeds and Ipswich take them into December.
Lampard was keen to strike a balance between enthusiasm and caution following the result. "It's big and we have to tap into that in a good way, in a humble way," he said. "We have to be excited and I'm seeing players in my eyes that are developing quite quickly. A lot of players had low Premier League minutes, or zero Premier League minutes - Jack Rudoni, Brandon Thomas Asante, Ephron Mason-Clark, a lot of them."
The Coventry manager suggested that his side's opening fixtures against stronger opposition, including Arsenal, Manchester City and Brighton, may have initially dented confidence. "So is it human nature in the first few games we've had two top teams in the league and we've had Brighton and we've gone: 'hmm, it's not easy here'. This win gives good confidence, so it's the balance of confidence against overconfidence. But it's great when you have a template of feeling when you get a result of that level."
The victory arrives after a difficult run of home form for Coventry, who had lost 1-0 to fellow promoted club Hull and were thrashed 5-0 by Brighton at the CBS Arena, with a 3-1 Carabao Cup defeat to Aston Villa also sandwiched between those results. Lampard acknowledged the importance of rediscovering form on home soil. "We're going to be a relative underdog in pretty much every game," he said. "So we have to maximise everything and be on the limit and I thought we were on the limit in loads of ways. They need to keep their feet on the ground because the next one's tough and the one after that will be tough. But we look like a team that will make it hard for teams to come here. That's the feeling we haven't quite had in our first CBS games this season."
A major highlight of the win was the full Premier League debut of teenage forward Sidi Cherif, who joined from Fenerbahce over the summer. The 19-year-old won an early penalty and later scored a crisp finish from outside the box, becoming Coventry's youngest Premier League goalscorer since Robbie Keane in April 2000, and the first Sky Blues player to score from outside the area in the competition since David Thompson in January 2001.
Lampard praised the youngster's temperament and hunger. "We've got a lot of belief in Sidi, a big signing for the club," he said. "He's very respectful but there's a hunger that flicks on when he goes on to the training pitch and in game. I felt it from our first meeting and I've seen it in training, he wants to train and do well. Sometimes you don't realise he's 19. He'll be disappointed with the one he missed and I've said to him it's no problem because that's good. You get there, you get hungry, you go again. He's got that little edge to him in a good way."
With striker Hadji Wright sidelined by a serious thigh injury, much of the scoring responsibility is likely to fall on the £20m Cherif, who was not even born the last time Coventry played in England's top division. Lampard believes the teenager's European experience with Fenerbahce could help him settle quickly at this level. "Sidi has played in European competition with Fenerbahce, so there is something about him that hopefully feels like he belongs on the level," he said. "There's something about him I think is a bit special."
Based on reporting from BBC Sport.